Nick Spinelli: 0:08

Hello and welcome to the no Hesitations podcast. We are your co-hosts.

Christin Marvin: 0:14

Christin Marvin with Solutions by Christin.

Nick Spinelli: 0:17

And Nick Spinelli, that's me.

Christin Marvin: 0:19

We talk about all things leadership, successes, challenges and every topic in between, with the goal of helping you become a better leader.

Nick Spinelli: 0:27

So join the conversation each week on Apple and Spotify podcasts or wherever you take your shows, because there's no time like the present to listen in and level up Kristen, what do we got today?

Christin Marvin: 0:38

Welcome everyone. Today we are so excited to welcome Nick Papantonaksi to the show. I have called Nick Papa for a very long time. So, Nick, I really had to spend some time on your full last name this morning. Had to type it out over and, over and over again practice it. So I think, I got it right, okay, great. Nick and I have known each other for years. We first met working for Snooze AM Eatery. I was with the company for seven years, nick. Remind me how long were you with Snooze?

Christin Marvin: 1:04

All in, it was a decade, 10 years, a decade right and you made such a huge impact from so many different regions. You were in Colorado, California, right.

Nick Papantonakis: 1:15

How many total? I spent a little time in Texas. It was brief, that's right, but yeah, got the chance to watch it grow and thrive.

Christin Marvin: 1:23

Yeah, and what restaurants did you end up working at?

Nick Papantonakis: 1:26

Let's see, goodness. It'd be one, two, three in Colorado, the first three in Southern California, and then would have been one in Fort Worth, texas, so seven, I think I'm mathing correctly.

Christin Marvin: 1:41

That's incredible and we were in that really what we called back then the ugly duckling stage of watching us grow from six to 48 locations and trying to figure out what we were doing and all the changes that were coming and how to keep everybody comfortable with those changes and just have a blast watching it grow. I think one of the things that still blows my mind is to hear that in new regions that they open up and there's still a line of people wrapped around the building opening day, ready to get their canteens, ready to be part of that experience, ready to taste that delicious food. So just a really, really cool company and so amazing that we were able to connect there for sure.

Nick Papantonakis: 2:20

And then a timeframe I like to call it like it's when you get on. If you try to get on a treadmill when it's running at like nine or 10 miles an hour, you just try to step onto it. That's that six to 48 times. We were just like okay, keep up, keep up.

Christin Marvin: 2:33

I always call it water skiing, although I have no idea how to water ski. So, yeah, there were a lot of days we were hanging on for dear life. So, yeah, I love it. I love it Amazing.

Christin Marvin: 2:44

So Nick is going to talk to us a little bit today about his passion for hospitality and the leadership skills that he developed while working in the restaurant industry and how they've set him up for success in his new industry in the real estate world, and he's going to talk to us a little bit about his podcast and how you can connect with him after the show. So a little bit about Nick. Nick has been a leadership junkie for over 15 years, with roots and restaurant operations for high-volume breakfast concepts. In that time, developing people around him was his one and only goal, and the opportunity to train future leaders in the company fed the already nerd level obsession that he had with personal development. Constantly seeking new reads to expand his skills, he's currently working through the gap in the game by Dan Sullivan. Nick has now transitioned his career to real estate with Remax Alliance. Nice book plug there a little bit.

Nick Papantonakis: 3:40

Yeah, I know it's right there, right there at the beginning.

Christin Marvin: 3:43

We had to ask him to stop reading so we could do this podcast. Through his role, Nick has been able to personalize and customize his approach to individuals during what can be a very stressful and overwhelming process. The goal to help them get where they want to be home ownership, investing, growing their family, you name it. His wife of 11 years, Jeannie, is an educator and has been at the root of his support for their whole relationship. So sweet. Their eight-year-old daughter, Jane, keeps them on their toes and with a wild sense of humor, huge heart, forgiving and loving demeanor. Their family is rounded out with Walter, the 10-year-old cat, and Daisy, the three-year-old dog. What kind of dog is Daisy?

Nick Papantonakis: 4:26

She's a Rottweiler mix, so just a big 70 pounds of love.

Christin Marvin: 4:31

I love it. That's amazing. Well welcome, nick. We're super, super excited to have you on the show today.

Nick Papantonakis: 4:37

Thank you, this is a really nice intro. Yeah, I'm hoping I can kind of keep track of all that in my mind there.

Christin Marvin: 4:46

Absolutely. You've accomplished a lot and just super excited to see and stay connected with where you're going to go in the future. So, that being said, let's jump in. Tell us a little bit about your background and how you kind of you know what fueled this passion for hospitality.

Nick Papantonakis: 5:03

Yeah, I mean it started as a job. You know, in my younger days I was 16, I think, when I started in working in restaurants, just so I could have money to put gas in my car, so I could try and get a girlfriend. That was kind of the goal for 16-year-old Nick. The goal didn't change much through my early 20s but, you know, that kind of panned out eventually. But as I got into it I realized I liked making people feel good and it was a momentary interaction in the beginning. Right, you just get that hi, welcome to wherever it is.

Nick Papantonakis: 5:36

Or my name is Nick, I'll be taking care of you, or whatever it was. I got a rush. It was that uplifting feeling in your gut, that kind of like butterfly feeling, and it really. I didn't realize how much it spoke to me until I was in college and I realized that there was a whole major around hospitality management at Colorado State University. So I kind of, you know, switched majors a few times, found that out and went, whoa, wait a minute, this is awesome. So I got the chance to kind of shift gears in my education, to kind of follow the path that I already enjoyed.

Christin Marvin: 6:15

That's amazing. I love that you talk about that rush. That rush for me happened when I was 19. I moved to Colorado. I got a job with Outback Steakhouse when Outback was cool Back in the day hip, great money. It really blew my mind. I still love that thing I got to have it once a year, man. It's so bad for you, but it's so good.

Nick Papantonakis: 6:35

There's nothing wrong with that thing. Don't even tell you any different.

Christin Marvin: 6:38

Now I'm thinking about it now. Now I'm getting hungry. I started cooking when I was 15, but that was my first front of house position. I worked my way up from server to bartender. The first night that I got out of bartender training they put me in the well, there was a Matchbox 20 concert right next door to us. We worked at the busiest Outback in Colorado. I, for two hours straight, was completely in the weeds covered in wallaby darn sticky beer bottle caps flying everywhere. The other bartenders were trying to jump in and help me out, but everybody was just flooding to the bar for drinks so they could get to the show. When everybody left and the concert started, just standing there sticky, covered in peach schnapps and all these things, you don't realize how wet you get, right?

Nick Spinelli: 7:26

Where the perspiration and the beer become indistinguishable from one another.

Christin Marvin: 7:30

Exactly it's a weird mix. I was 19 and that was the moment for me, that was the rush, where I said I don't know what the fuck that just was, but I want more of it. This is a blast, let's do it. It felt like so much accomplishment, it was amazing.

Nick Papantonakis: 7:46

It's real and it really does. It's like that. It's a weird drug, like any other addiction, where you chase it and you chase it again and again, and I think one of the easiest ways to chase it is to keep leveling up in the industry and find ways to have a broader reach. Right, so going from server to bartender, you get a chance to serve way more people way faster. Same kind of thing going into the management leadership roles I really think it's fun to be able to see how that comes out of you in a different way and then also maybe, depending on your path, try to inspire others to seek that within too. That was always a big driver for me, especially as life shifted and I found my way to snooze and got the chance to really thrive there.

Christin Marvin: 8:31

Yeah, did you know that restaurant management was a career that you wanted to continue to invest in?

Nick Papantonakis: 8:38

You know it's funny. You asked that because, going back to the bartender thing, I think I saved it too. But when I was five years old, my grandparents had this built in bar as everyone did in the 70s in their basements, with the wood paneled walls and the big mirror in the back and all that. And I took this little magnet board and I made with little magnet letters the words Nix bar and put it up above there. When I was five and I used to have my parents come downstairs and I'd pretend to make them drinks, I'd have, like you know, the big handle of McCormick's that wasn't open yet. So they let me.

Christin Marvin: 9:14

Five years old, love it.

Nick Papantonakis: 9:16

I'd take the bottle and I'd take a glass I pretend to pour it and I'd say there you go, and I did that and it was. It was something I loved and I don't know why I couldn't describe it to you. I thought it was funny, I thought it was cool and I think, just, it was always this, this thing, that followed me in my life, whether I realized it or not. And yeah, when, when I, like I said when that man, when that management or hospitality management degree could play in, and then on top of that, I got, I got a job with an up and coming company. It just seemed like the stars were aligning the way they're supposed to.

Christin Marvin: 9:50

I love that you position yourself at five years old taking care of people and you've got that instant gratification of handing somebody something, doing something for someone and getting that happiness Right. It's. It's so similar in the restaurant business.

Nick Papantonakis: 10:04

And I made some of the best fake cocktails Any five years I've ever made To this day.

Christin Marvin: 10:11

I just have this great image of you like tiny Nick with this like giant thing you're trying to hang on to. You know, I love that. That's amazing.

Nick Papantonakis: 10:18

Man, it was fun. It was a lot of fun, but it definitely it not. Not not the five year old bartending thing, but the just the tie in for, like you said, taking care of people it was. That was never not there, no matter what. So yeah, so I.

Christin Marvin: 10:33

a couple weeks ago I was able to go speak to 48 high school students for a business startup entrepreneurial course about hospitality, and one of the questions that they asked me at the end was do I need a degree in order to be a leader in hospitality? I would love to hear a little bit about your experience with going to CSU and getting that hospitality management degree. How did that set you up in your career and would you recommend that to people today? They're interested.

Nick Papantonakis: 11:07

I think that's a it's right if it's right for you kind of answer. As far as if, if it's required, you know there's going to be some companies that require it, I think, not necessarily a hospitality degree, but a degree of some kind. For me I did get a lot out of it. You know some. I feel like some college courses no offense to college courses are just, you know, time filling bullshit. So it was the way I felt through most of my college career until I found some of those, those classes that spoke to like here's how you read a P&L, here's how you walk through you know scheduling. They actually talked about that stuff in a very, you know, broad level sense, but that was something I use every day when I was, when I was running a restaurant, so it was really cool. That was a part of my education. My path towards it is kind of funny. One of the probably the greatest leader I've ever had the honor to spend time with, greatest mentor I've ever had the chance to spend time with my father.

Nick Papantonakis: 12:09

Mike told me early on when I decided that I didn't want to do school anymore. I was finishing my freshman year of college. Did not like it. I love the social aspect, don't get me wrong. But the actual school piece I wasn't doing. You know, I was doing okay, getting some bees, felt, felt okay, but I was bored, I didn't like. It seemed like a waste of time and money. And he said, okay, that's fine. What do you think you want to do instead? I said, well, I love restaurants. I think I go work in restaurant and get ready to start. You know, open my own restaurant.

Nick Papantonakis: 12:41

This 19 year old Nick speaking, and he goes that's a great idea, that's awesome. He's like you know what I, because he grew up in restaurants, his uncle where Greek family, his uncle and restaurant he grew up doing that to. He's like you know, I'd love to do that with you someday. It'd be a fun thing to do together. I was like, oh man, oh man, that'd be amazing. I would love that to let's. Let's make that happen. He goes yeah, problem is I would never work with you if you didn't have a degree.

Christin Marvin: 13:03

Wow.

Nick Spinelli: 13:06

So wow, that's a, that's a mic drop moment right there.

Nick Papantonakis: 13:11

He, he, he knows what he's doing he's. He's good at that whole like talking to people thing and that has been his strength that's some verbal jujitsu baby.

Nick Spinelli: 13:20

He just took that and just right back at you.

Christin Marvin: 13:24

I wouldn't believe it's so it's so funny, isn't it I? Somebody else I talked to when I was back in Denver last week. We were talking about their background and in restaurants to, and they said that they had been around I think they were in restaurants for like 30 years and when they first applied into management they got turned down because they were told by the employer that they had to have a bachelor's degree in order to be a manager and it was so far removed from what is happening in the industry today. And you know it's man I've worked for. So many operators are like don't go to culinary school, don't go to college, just get in here, get the hands on training that you need. I love, I love your dad's approach with that with 19 year old Nick, but I think it. You know, it's kind of funny. It's like the old school mentality you know. Well, yeah, and it's amazing invest.

Nick Papantonakis: 14:15

You know you're invested in yourself already and so it's like you know you're going to keep going to finish what you started is kind of what was his messaging with that? He didn't finish school and he's been a very successful business person in sales and taking care of people since. Yeah, I've been alive and, at the end of the day, I think I think you're right, kristen, I think it really comes down to you, and so it's a hands on experience of legitimately we keep saying of taking care of people. It's not about Did you punch in? Did you fill out your checklists? Did you make sure everyone showed up on time? Did you make sure ticket times were good? Those are all pieces of the hospitality industry.

Nick Papantonakis: 14:53

As far as operations go, there's that that soft skill, you know emotional intelligence, and so it's a great area that you can't just write down what it is on a piece of paper that you don't get unless you are physically there and mentally present not just physically present, but mentally present to what's going on around you. That's the best education you're going to get.

Christin Marvin: 15:17

Absolutely, and it's you're so right there's a balance. There's a balance between the hands on, but then there's also the development piece that needs to happen behind the scenes and that self awareness piece in the moment and how to handle that emotional intelligence, and so it's a mental fitness piece that we're going to talk about more. You know, I'm going to talk about more here in the next couple hours and it's it's so important for leaders in this day and age and any industry to really take that time to develop in themselves and invest in themselves. There's no better investment than that, because it's. It is difficult when you go to school and then you enter the industry because you it's hard to relate the two. But we all know that it's not necessarily realistic to actually be managing a restaurant full time and then have the time and the energy to go to school at the same time. You know that's that's a huge feat, so that's interesting.

Nick Spinelli: 16:07

That's not that. That almost sounds like. Well, nick, I actually, Nick, I want to go back to what you said earlier about how to the question Christian was asked you replied well, it really depends on the individual. Right, I can I can't necessarily bring the restaurant perspective, but I can bring the higher ed perspective because, as listeners already know, I'm a PhD dropout and spent most of my 20s at grad school.

Nick Spinelli: 16:34

There's a couple reasons why someone might go into higher ed. Right, they might go into higher ed because they need a certification or they need a piece of paper. To Kristen's point earlier, or even what your dad was, I think, trying to argue right, they need that piece of paper in order to do that job. Counseling is an excellent example of that. If you're not licensed as a counselor or as a therapist, you're not going to find work. It's that simple. You might go into higher ed because there is knowledge that you might not gain any other way. It's not quite like that in the restaurant industry from the sound of it, right, it's much more hands on, it's much more practical.

Nick Spinelli: 17:10

And then to that last piece you mentioned you might go just for the mentorship and to build connections. So I think what the two of you are really hitting on right now is that a lot of that is already available just by walking in the front door, which is not to say that college has no utility. But of course, this whole time you're talking, I'm over here thinking like, wow, you know an education. Well, my background is an experiential education, right, and also I'm like there has to be a program out there somewhere that actually gets you hands on experience while you're in school. I mean, undergraduate degrees in general are more hands on than grad degrees. Grad degrees is when you start going into theory, leadership, management, all these other things. But I don't know. I don't think your dad was wrong, but I also think that you finding your own path the way that you did really speaks to the fact that the opportunity is there and it's totally okay if you don't go to school, because this is one instance where it really is what you make of it.

Nick Papantonakis: 18:11

I think it's really cool the path that you followed, personally speaking, Well, and it was interesting because and I appreciate that you know I really think there was something to it that I also think matters for the individual but also the institution, because one of the biggest bragging rights that the Colorado State University Hospitality Management Program bragged about constantly was 100% job placement.

Nick Papantonakis: 18:37

So, as you get out or as you go into your senior year, your, you know, one of your big projects was to, as a class, with very little help from the professors, plan a big end of year cocktail party, networking event, and part of that was inviting, you know, 30 to 50 ish industry professionals from around the for us it was the northern Colorado area, but also up from Denver in the metro area to, and it's basically students, industry professionals, talk, network, get to know each other and and market yourself and ask questions. And they weren't wrong. I mean I had. I came away from that event with two job offers and it was. It was neither of them were snooze, it was something before snooze, but it was.

Nick Papantonakis: 19:29

It was incredible that, at least for me and I haven't gone back and done the deep dive research, so don't totally fact check me but I'm assuming it worked that way for everybody, as long as they were willing to open their mouth and talk to somebody. So, and I'm assuming that that's a that's a fairly common thing, but I also don't know how other schools do it. So to me there was a ton of value in that, that's for sure.

Nick Spinelli: 19:53

Self directed learning is not only scary, it's also uncommon, and I say that as someone who comes from Prescott College most recently, and Prescott historically was known for almost all of their programming being student directed, even at the master's and doctoral level. For a long time, anywhere from half to two thirds of the curriculum was created by the student, where someone would come into a program and they would say, I want a degree in this thing, and the college would say, okay, you're going to design all your classes and even your assessment evidence, your assignments, with your professor. If that sounds overwhelming, that's because it was overwhelming. Now, of course, the potential there was incredible in terms of the freedom to study literally whatever you wanted and to find mentors in your chosen field that maybe you wouldn't have been able to find otherwise. But you were just sharing that story and I was thinking, damn, you were what.

Nick Spinelli: 20:46

1920 22 at the most I'd have been scared shitless, walking into that room not only organizing that whole event but then being like, okay, it's go time, I have to sell myself. Who am I right like? I'm in here asking for a job and it's like I'm in this hospitality program. You should hire me. That sounds really scary and I imagine it took some pretty serious courage to do what you did.

Nick Papantonakis: 21:13

Well, it was interesting because I watched, you know, I don't know how I did, but I was kind of paying attention to my classmates and my peers and everybody was just having a good time. You know, we were responsible for we had to organize service. So we, you know, employed, without paying them, the juniors in the program to serve. So they were the ones bringing up the orders, they were the ones pouring the wine. They were, you know, and it was, it was all kind of set up in this. It was on our home turf. We had this student run restaurant in the student center which was also part of the program, which was also its own awesome piece, and that's where we hosted it. So it felt a little more comfortable. You're in a comfortable space, but then it was. You know, a lot of these people know that they're, they're trying to hire to, so they're coming in and they're they'll, they'll pull it out of you if you're not ready to get. It was there.

Christin Marvin: 22:05

It's so funny, I you know, because, again, with this image of you behind the bar at five I mean you've been selling since you were five, right? I mean so many people in hospitality from, I think, front of house management perspectives, myself being one of them, said I'm not in sales, I never want to be in sales. We're in sales our whole career, that's what serving others is to be in sales.

Nick Papantonakis: 22:25

A lot of people's minds is you know you're the slimy like slick back guy in the really bad sport coat walking up saying let me put you in a new car today, Perfectly off terror.

Nick Spinelli: 22:34

What color would you like?

Christin Marvin: 22:36

Yeah, totally.

Nick Papantonakis: 22:38

It could be the truth.

Christin Marvin: 22:40

Yeah, so I love to switch gears a little bit and maybe you know get you might get you a little uncomfortable here, nick. But when did you realize that the restaurant business was no longer going to be your career? And what was that thought, thought process like of what am I going to do now?

Nick Papantonakis: 23:01

The, the win was pretty definitive. Actually, I was running a one of the locations in Colorado for snooze. It was probably year Then this is pre COVID, because I did stay through snooze through the beginning of the shutdown Year seven I think and my restaurant wasn't doing well. I was financially not performing. I was still getting my bearings. It was the highest volume location in the company and I it was a little bit like it felt good to be, you know, trusted with that going into it. But I wasn't performing well and I wasn't really taking to. The leadership above me with their coaching will say I wasn't, I wasn't open minded to listening. So I was kind of given an ultimatum and it wasn't. It wasn't ego that told me this isn't for me anymore, it was more the here's your ultimatum. We need you to either accept that we need you to remove yourself from your restaurant per month, will send you to another location to help open, which was my time spent in Fort Worth, texas and it'll be for three and a half weeks and then, when you get back, we're going to assess what's going on in your restaurant, will have another manager in place, they'll assess the need and then you two will put your heads together, along with your leadership above you, and make a plan and fix it. And I said three and a half weeks away from my family when I have a little small child doesn't work for me. I don't like that. So one is my other option. They said there isn't one. So the ultimatum didn't feel good and it wasn't like I said. It wasn't that that drove me away, it was more. I said yes because I, you know, wanted to keep my job and felt I still had something to contribute.

Nick Papantonakis: 24:53

My time in Fort Worth, texas, could not have been better. I mean, it was amazing, it was uplifting, it was empowering and I got to be around a whole new group of future snooze people that were just so passionate and it was great. And it gave me a lot of time by myself. And I did a lot of soul searching at that time and all calls with my wife, calls with my dad, and found out that I needed to plan an exit strategy, not because of, like I said, the ego, but because time away from my wife and my daughter hurt. And that was three and a half weeks, but I realized I was away for 12 to 13 hours a day, five days a week missing Mother's Day, missing Easter, missing. You know, it was the lifestyle piece of shifting gears. My daughter was growing up a little bit more.

Nick Papantonakis: 25:46

I wanted to be around and it made it really easy for me to say, okay, I'm going to find a way to leave. And ego did make me say I'm not going to leave until I hit my 10 year mark. So I did stick around for a little bit longer, but my 10 year mark was going was set to be March 2020. So with that in my sights, I went, oh great, this will be fun. And then the St Patrick's Day Massacre came and we laid off 95% of our staff and had to reinvent how everything worked within a high volume, well-oiled machine. It was a little scary. So I stuck around for a few more months because I wasn't about to be the guy who just said, yeah, good luck figuring that out as the general manager of that location.

Nick Papantonakis: 26:35

That would have been selfish, I felt.

Christin Marvin: 26:39

I want to go back for a second to that moment when you got down to Fort Worth. What was that moment of insight around this just feels so different from what I'm doing. What was that about?

Nick Papantonakis: 26:55

I think it was two things. I think it was strictly the geography new dirt under my feet. I was in an unfamiliar place. The only thing I had with me is the confidence of what I knew of the restaurant and of the operations of the company. That's it and whatever other bag of stuff I brought with me myself. But outside of that it was the change of scenery I think really helped and I do think, for whatever reason, I had to lean on some skills that I hadn't had to lean on in a long time to encourage and to uplift and to help lead this new group of people that didn't know what they were getting into because it was all new for them. So there was a lot of that going on and that really relayed in some confidence. Because having somebody come in and say your operation's failing, your numbers stink and we need someone who's not you to come in and fix it, that took a lot of confidence out of my bucket and so this, built it back.

Nick Papantonakis: 27:59

It really did.

Christin Marvin: 28:00

Yeah, I mean it sounds like you went down to Fort Worth and overnight your position changed. I mean your perspective changed, your outlook changed, just your scenery changed. But also you were immediately placed in a position where you're the expert and you've got all these people coming to you now that respect you, that are listening to you, that care about you and that know that you're there to support them. And that sounds like a completely different environment from where you come from.

Nick Papantonakis: 28:28

Yeah, and it wasn't that I wasn't supported in Colorado either it was more that it was me.

Nick Papantonakis: 28:33

My mindset was closed when I was trying to solve my own little problem there, my own little bubble, without help, without accepting help, and I think part of being down there in the confidence build back was man. I'll tell you what this isn't about me. Like I need to be more open minded and understand that there's a way to fix this restaurant. But it's not just Nick can figure it out to put his head down and grind. Listen, ask for help, be open.

Christin Marvin: 29:03

Yeah, yeah, that's great. Yeah, what you had been doing wasn't working right, so it's time for something new. That's great. Love it. That's so brave. So you came back you said you talked to your wife, you talked to your dad Sounds like you kind of came up with a plan, and then what happened from there?

Nick Papantonakis: 29:20

So the exit strategy coming into year 10, so starting 2020 was get through March and then start down the path of getting my real estate license. My father's been in the real estate industry for 16 years to this point, so at that point it was about 13 years and he's a very successful and respected person in that industry, success definitely measured by his ability to take care of people. It's not that he's rolling up into Rolls Royce or anything like that. It's more that he has always been very good at talking to people, understanding them, listening to them, staying humble and executing for them. It's a great model to follow. And so he said I know you'll be good at this if you ever want to do it. He said that when I was down at Fort Worth to be on the phone, I was like, well, I'm not done yet. I still got some stuff to do with this restaurant thing, and that's fine. It wasn't the right time, but that was the plan, and I've been very, very grateful for what this change has been in my life on all levels.

Christin Marvin: 30:26

That's amazing, love that. What was the transition like from you leaving restaurant operations into this new learning and this new industry?

Nick Papantonakis: 30:39

Humbling, terrifying, yeah, I mean I was a big fish in a medium-sized pond and I became the FNG real quick again. Really was humbled by that. Not, like I said, ego goes along with everything all the time, it doesn't matter who you are and what you say, it's in there somewhere for everybody. And it wasn't so much a oh man, I can't believe I'm the new guy and I don't know anything. It was more a thirst, for I want to understand, I want to know and I asked so many questions. I told my dad, like a month in, I'm like I'm going to drive you nuts because I need to know. I want to know. I'd ask I'd go other agents, hey, can I take you out for coffee? Pick your brain. So it was really deep into the pool. But also I'm ready to. I want to swim, so bad.

Nick Papantonakis: 31:32

I just figure out how.

Christin Marvin: 31:33

Yeah, I definitely felt that starting my company last year. In the restaurant business we move so fast. Every day, especially at snooze, we're seeing 800 to 1,000 people coming in the doors within eight hours. I mean you're managing a lot of things. And to start over to new industry, it's like you want all the knowledge. You can get that pretty quickly. But then it's like how do I find my rhythm? How do I start to craft my sales pitch? How do I get in front of people more? How do I make more of an impact? It's just like how can you get that done really, really quickly and do it well? But, yeah, like, find your flow, Get back in a rhythm. It's like how do I start my shift today?

Nick Papantonakis: 32:09

Dude, you hit something on the head that I hadn't even really thought about. I don't know if it's this way for you with starting your business too, but that pace was such a thing, and to learn to slow down again was its own reeducation.

Christin Marvin: 32:26

Yeah, it makes me uncomfortable right now physically just thinking about it, because it's been so challenging. It's real.

Nick Papantonakis: 32:34

It's very real and it's funny, because I used to tell servers that I'd say hey, when you're table side, you slow down, be present. When you're handling money, you slow down, be present. When you're putting in your orders, slow down, be present. And here I am, the new guy doing this new role in this new industry. That's got a lot higher impact than pancakes do, and it was a reminder. When I'm present with somebody and they're talking about their desires for what they want, or this home that they lived in for 35 years and they now have to sell it and they're not in love with that idea, you have to be present. You have to be 100% present with that person. Even if you've done it a million times, they haven't. It's a matter of slowing down and being really aware of your surroundings and who you're interacting with.

Christin Marvin: 33:25

Yeah, how is your love for service and wanting to serve people and make an impact? How is that showing up for you in the real estate industry?

Nick Papantonakis: 33:35

I think there's a lot of connectivity between hospitality service and what I'm doing now.

Nick Papantonakis: 33:42

It's it is that it's a lot of the listening and slowing down and understanding people. 99% of the time that's all people want is to be heard, and not just be heard but really be understood, and you know, at the same time, being able to be whatever expert they need at that time. You know it's it's not a matter of I know it all, so come to me for everything, but I know what I know and I definitely will connect you with whoever you need for the other things that I don't know. That's that service piece, that's that full service piece. And it's not just the biggest thing for me and I love hearing this from my managing broker, from our ownership of remix alliance from the top down is we are not transactional, we are relationship first and they, they will walk that talk every single day with us individually, but then also they, they give us so many tools to be that for for our clients and it's really a it. Just it's just like the snooze ball just kept bouncing for me. It's just got a different name on it.

Christin Marvin: 34:52

Yeah, yeah, I mean you, we've worked with our real estate agent for you know, on two or three deals and and yeah, they're your friends. You know you exchange happy moments together. It's, but it just in the restaurant business to. You've got to build repeat clients, but you, you get to know those people, you get to watch their kids grow up right, you get to celebrate those special moments with them. It's. That's a beautiful thing, so that's awesome. What, as you look back now, you've been doing? You've been in real estate for how many years? Three years. As you look back now, in the last three years, what skills, what leadership skills, did you take away from the restaurant business that really set you up for success in this new industry?

Nick Papantonakis: 35:31

I think an unsung hero that I have witnessed from a lot of agents, but not all, is the idea of humility and collaboration. It's really an easy route to go down in a sales based industry. Call it what it is. It is that is part of the puzzle to be competitive and to be naturally competitive and to be sometimes viciously competitive. And you see that. You see that a lot in other agents in scarcity mindset or a weird level of attachment to my paycheck, my transaction, because yes, it's a job, yes, we get paid I hope that's no mystery to anybody, but it's.

Nick Papantonakis: 36:14

It's rough to see that be the focus for some and then also know there's those agents out there that you work. You are working with a different company, you, you know you and I work in the same area and I have this listing that you could have gotten. I'm listing this house that you could have listed but instead of being spiteful towards that or I'll flip it around, you listed the house that I could have gotten. I could easily say why didn't they go with me? I live around the corner or I live next door or whatever it is.

Nick Papantonakis: 36:45

The reality is it's not about the individual moment for that agent. The good agents realize it's not about them at all. It's it's about the person and their trust and comfort with someone to do this really big thing for them. And so agents that realize that are really quick to collaborate and share information and be an open book, and I think that was the way we were encouraged to manage, I think, and lead at snooze, and I think that was a very easy transition for me. I love being able to get on the phone with an agent and say, hey, I've got a, you know, a client who's interested in that property you have listed there and start to build that rapport with them to then ultimately make it an easier overall transaction for the person selling and the person buying. That's that's much more of a skill set than it is to write a contract and you know, market and elbow my way through the rest of the agents to be the one that you're focusing on. It's that's all way in the background the pieces.

Nick Papantonakis: 37:48

Yeah listening and building relationships.

Christin Marvin: 37:51

What's leadership skills that you have that you didn't realize that surprised you.

Nick Papantonakis: 37:57

Oh, that's a lovely question. You know the. I think I think one of the things that that did surprise me was um, there's a certain level of uh this is maybe in the weeds a little bit with restaurant specific, but um, there's a certain level of business acumen that you either come in with or gain as you're running a business. You know that was a For million dollar a year restaurant I was running there for the last few years of my time with snoozing. Um, understanding the emotion side is super crucial and critical and that is a leadership skill.

Nick Papantonakis: 38:31

I kind of knew I already had coming into this real estate world, but, um, for some people it is much more about the dollars and cents alone. You know, yes, it's the family home, but I didn't live there. I'm the you know nephew and everybody passed away and I just have to get rid of this and it's all dollars to me. So being able to be nimble and shift into that mode I wasn't as I didn't realize I was as first as I was coming into that Um, that's been a really something I've been really grateful for, because we did get a good education. That too in the time I spent with snooze.

Christin Marvin: 39:08

That's awesome, that's great. I love it. Well, tell us a little bit more about, as we kind of wrap up here how can people connect with you? Where can we find you? What? What else is going on in your world that we need to know about?

Nick Papantonakis: 39:23

Yeah, so um Remax Alliance is the company. It's a Denver based, denver native company. We started in our Vata, which is where I live and have been great office location.

Nick Papantonakis: 39:35

It's a fantastic place, but we have 26 locations along the front range in Colorado, um, outside of that, we also have affiliates that we work with all along the West Coast Oregon, washington and California, um me specifically. I am in old town, our Vata, so if you are a Colorado person at all, come down there. It's a cool little spot, um, we have a fun location and a lot of good people that work there. You can find me on Instagram. It's at nickp1.reco. As in real estate Colorado. That's also my Facebook, and then the podcast. I mean, I can't not plug the podcast Please.

Christin Marvin: 40:14

Yes.

Nick Papantonakis: 40:15

Myself and another agent in our office. Her name is Nicole Costolecchi. We have a podcast called Bruce Keys and House Keys, which is what it sounds like. Every week we pick a different craft brewery. 99% of them are from Colorado. We've delved out a little bit for different themed things, but Colorado based breweries. We talk about beer. We get a couple of samples from them.

Nick Papantonakis: 40:41

Whatever it may be, we talk about it, give our personal, very non professional review and then we dive into a real estate topic. Sometimes it's talking about how to get your home ready to list. Sometimes it's talking about you know what you can do to prepare your home for winter. We do a monthly market update where we talk about what the numbers look like in the Denver metro area. Coming up next week I'm doing an interview with a mortgage lender to talk about a very unique loan product that they have that kind of acts as a mortgage and a HELOC and a bank account. It's called the all in one loan and it's called that for her. It's pretty cool.

Nick Papantonakis: 41:17

So we we just have different stuff we do and it's a really fun kind of goofball atmosphere. They're pretty short, you know 20 to 25 minute episodes and, yeah, she and I just have a good time doing it. We do. Both are bad at kids, so we like. We like talking about our beer and our real estate. So it's Bruce keys and house keys, apple podcasts, spotify, and I think, like like Nick said at the top of the episode, to kind of, wherever you get them, you can find us.

Christin Marvin: 41:44

so yeah, yeah, that's great. I love your Instagram and I love all the pictures of you and your dad and you guys just do so many events and you're just so goofy, but it's just, it's so real and it just feels like you know, you can feel the relationship and that mentorship and I'm so happy that you've been able to find that and you're surrounded by that and that you're doing so well in this new role and can't wait to stay connected, for sure, and see what's going on down the road.

Nick Papantonakis: 42:13

Thank you so much. Well, I gotta thank you for the opportunity this, knowing you in this role, Kristen. I'm sorry, Spinelli, I'm going to get a little emotional.

Nick Spinelli: 42:23

Absolutely absolutely not.

Christin Marvin: 42:24

This is not the show to be vulnerable or honest or show any kind of emotion, please do.

Nick Papantonakis: 42:32

No, I just knowing knowing you as long as I have Kristen I, I always respected your leadership style and your ability to lead with your heart, and I think you could not be in any better position than you are now. This is. This is such a wonderful use of your, your talents, to your natural ability and what you've come with through the industry, and I just think anybody that gets a chance to work with you is super fortunate.

Christin Marvin: 42:57

So Thank you. That means a lot. That heart's got me in trouble a couple times, or maybe my mouth more than my heart, but they work together.

Christin Marvin: 43:05

So it's a now I can, I can say what I want, right, I can challenge whatever I want to challenge. So I appreciate that for sure, and I think you know one of the most beautiful things about being able to start a company is just this making an impact in the industry, telling people stories, reconnecting with people that I've known for years and maybe touch, you know, lost, lost contact with over the pandemic and just a beautiful way to reconnect. So I appreciate you very much so.

Nick Papantonakis: 43:36

Likewise.

Christin Marvin: 43:36

Alright, Spinelli, take us home.

Nick Spinelli: 43:38

We are very lucky to have Kristen here in Tucson, to Nick's point, and you can catch both of us each week, as we said at the top of the hour, on Apple Spotify podcast or wherever you find your shows. So please be sure to follow Kristen and Nick on LinkedIn and subscribe to the solutions by Kristen newsletter. We will be back next week with more content. Thank you so much for listening in, as always.

Christin Marvin: 44:03

Thanks everybody.